Sprint

Sprint has begun sending out invites for its Google Voice integration, which allows subscribers to use their existing Sprint number as a Google Voice number. Although not expected to go broadly live until April 26, an Android Central writer was among the pre-registered users invited to try the service out early.

Today two phones have been revealed, one of them an Android phone, the other a feature phone, both of them from Samsung and claiming heavily that they'll be the most eco-friendly handsets on the market. First is the Replenish, a QUERTY keyboard toting Android phone coming out May 8th, then the Samsung Restore, a feature phone that'll be re-announcing itself on Virgin Mobile on April 18th. Both of these phones come in fabulous bright fruity color combinations.

An anonymous tipster over at xda-devs posted the first leaked pics of HTC's new Windows Phone, named Mazaa. They are surprisingly high resolution and look like someone just popped one down onto a scanner plate, front and back. Being the delightful folks we are here at Slashgear, we thought we'd let y'all in on the news. It's what we do here. egzthunder1 also discussed some of the details leaked along with these shots. Read more for more!

If one touchscreen is good, how great must two be? Tapping into the same part of the brain that screams how geekily-cool Star Trek tablet props are, the allure of a double-display smartphone or computer isn't new, but neither has it been done right. That's not stopped various new attempts, however, Acer's twin-14-inch Iconia Touchbook notebook for one, or the imminent Sprint Kyocera Echo phone for another. Double-vision each may offer, but the manufacturers responsible are still showing serious myopia in how they're delivering on the twin-touch dream.

Sprint will release its version of the HTC Flyer, the HTC EVO View 4G announced at CTIA 2011 last month, running Android 3.0 Honeycomb out of the box, unlike the initial GSM units. While HTC showed the Flyer running a heavily modified version of Gingerbread at the slate's debut in February, and said that early units would run the smartphone OS until a Honeycomb update could be released, a minor mention on Sprint's "coming soon" page seemingly confirms it will get the tablet-centric OS from the off.

Sprint announced today that it will be offering the ultra-compact award-winning MiFi 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Novatel Wireless. With the new MiFi service, customers can take advantage of 4G speeds and get one-touch connectivity for up to five WiFi-enabled devices, including tablets, eReaders, laptops, and gaming consoles.

Sprint is planning to launch a commercial Near Field Communication (NFC) service in the US this year in order to compete against the Isis NFC joint venture of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. The new NFC service would allow users of any smartphone on Sprint's Now Network to make purchases using their handsets.

AT&T may have to make some major concessions in order to get FCC approval for its acquisition of T-Mobile, according to analysts at Citadel Securities, and Sprint may just be the beneficiary of those concessions. AT&T has already stated, in its Stock Purchase Agreement filed March 21, that it is ready to divest up to 40 percent of T-Mobile's subscribers. But AT&T may need to make even more significant concessions to get the deal done.

At this second Sprint event, the focus was definitely Google Voice. In their initial presentation, Sprint noted Google's one number, online voicemail, transcriptions, custom greetings, international calling, and recording of calls. One single voicemail on one single number, all of this accessible in the cloud on the web. Integration with SMS, a brand new feature, and the ability to pick up a call halfway through a voicemail message being left, a feature we've not had since the old voicemail boxes of yore! Google Voice, launched just two years ago, we know to be integral to more people's lives than just our own - from the onset, this presentation was like a silent bomb.

With the AT&T/T-Mobile USA acquisition still hanging in the air, and a keynote this morning attended by Sprint, Verizon and AT&T execs but punctuated with no small number of barbs, it comes as little surprise that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse took a pot-shot at rival 4G networks during the Sprint CTIA 2011 keynote today. In among announcing the HTC EVO View 4G, Hesse pointedly highlighted that the WiMAX-enabled Flyer delivers "not faux-G, 4G" on his network.

At the Sprint event on Day 1 of CTIA 2011, a lovely humid Tuesday in Orlando, Florida, the stage was a round staircase leading up to two pedestals covered with golden sheets until whammo! They were thusly revealed. This is a 3G/4G Android tablet with dual cameras, video call functionality, high definition video capture on the back, a Flash-enabled email. On this 7-inch screen you be able to use the Scribe, a pen device that'll work out of the box with this tablet - does this seem familiar to you? It's because this is the US version of the HTC Flyer.

At a utterly lovely Sprint media event at CTIA 2011, gold and yellow tones abound, Sprint has announced what they hope will be a heavy contender in this massively competitive 2011 season for Android. It began with a lovely floaty Andy video in full 3D, showing him float about, transforming things from flat to 3D. It was instantly apparent that the device would be the next step in the EVO line. The first announcment was the HTC EVO 3D, the first 4G device with a dual-core and 3D capability with no glasses needed.